Learn how to talk about the weather
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone. I’m Becky. Welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com This is the Absolute Beginner series, Season 1, Lesson 22 - What’s the Weather Like Today in Vietnam? |
| Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about the weather. The conversation takes place on the phone and is between An and her father, who is working far from home. |
| Huyen: The speakers are family members, so they’ll be using informal Vietnamese, but An still speaks in a respectful tone, when she talks to her father. |
| DIALOGUE |
| An: Bố ơi, hôm nay thời tiết thế nào ạ? |
| Father: Hôm nay trời nắng con ạ. Ở nhà trời đẹp không? |
| An: Hôm nay ở đây trời mưa ạ, nên con chả đi đâu cả. |
| Father: Mai con có dự định gì không? |
| An: Mai con sẽ đi bảo tàng với lớp ạ. |
| Father: Nhớ chụp ảnh và gửi cho bố nhé. |
| An: Dad, what’s the weather like today? |
| Father: It’s sunny today. Is the weather fine at home? |
| An: It’s raining here, so I’m not going anywhere at all. |
| Father: Any plans for tomorrow? |
| An: I’m going to the museum with my class. |
| Father: Remember to take photos and send them to me. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Hey Huyen, let’s tell our listeners something about the climate in Vietnam. |
| Huyen: Sure. Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate and there are different types of weather in different regions. |
| Becky: There are four seasons in Vietnam, but that’s only true of the areas from the north to the center of Vietnam. In these regions, they have spring, summer, autumn and winter. |
| Huyen: That’s right, Becky. Do you know how it’s different in the south? |
| Becky: I think there are only dry and rainy seasons in the south and the people there enjoy warm weather all the year round. |
| Huyen: Exactly! You should go there in spring. That’s the best time to visit Vietnam. |
| Becky: Which, by the way, is from January to late March! I actually prefer autumn, which is from mid August to late October. The weather during both these times is very cool, and there’s almost no rain. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Firstly, we have the verb phrase... |
| Huyen: ...chả đi đâu cả... |
| Becky: …meaning “not go anywhere at all”. This verb phrase contains... |
| Huyen: ...chả… |
| Becky: ...plus a verb phrase and ends with… |
| Huyen: ...cả. When chả and cả are used, the verb is turned into its negative form. |
| Becky: We have learned another word to make negative forms in Vietnamese, which is... |
| Huyen: ...không. Chả and không actually have the same meaning, but chả is only used in daily conversation, and not in written text. |
| Becky: They also have different implications. |
| Huyen: Không… |
| Becky: ...generally expresses the negative form of the action, whereas… |
| Huyen: ...chả… |
| Becky: ...does not only mention the mere fact, but it also implies the speaker’s dissatisfaction or disappointment when a certain action does not occur. For example, the translation of “I don’t understand anything at all” can be... |
| Huyen: ...Tôi không hiểu gì cả or Tôi chả hiểu gì cả. |
| Becky: The first one merely states the fact that the speaker does not understand, whereas the second one implies that the speaker doesn’t understand because the explanation is not clear, or he or she is not interested in the topic. In the dialogue, An said... |
| Huyen: ...chả đi đâu cả. |
| Becky: This implies that An cannot go because of the rain, not because she doesn’t want to go. Next is a pair of pronouns used between the father and his child. |
| Huyen: bố - con. bố means “father” and con means “child” |
| Becky: But they’re also used as a pair of pronouns as in “I” and “you” when a father and child are talking to each other. The father calls himself... |
| Huyen: ...bố… |
| Becky: ...meaning “I”, and calls his child… |
| Huyen: ...con… |
| Becky: ...meaning “you”. The child calls him or herself… |
| Huyen: ...con… |
| Becky: ...and calls his or her father… |
| Huyen: ...bố. |
| Becky: So the words for “I” and “you” change. To make it simple, please listen to the examples. |
| Huyen: The father says, Chủ nhật bố đưa con đi sở thú nhé. |
| Becky: “I will take you to the zoo on Sunday.” |
| Huyen: The child says, Chủ nhật bố đi sở thú với con nhé. |
| Becky: “You will go to the zoo with me on Sunday, won’t you?” |
| Huyen: The last word is bảo tàng. |
| Becky: “Museum”. If you want to refer to a certain type of museum, add the noun indicating that type right after this word. This word order is opposite to that of English. For example... |
| Huyen: ...bảo tàng nghệ thuật. |
| Becky: “art museum”. |
| Huyen: bảo tàng lịch sử. |
| Becky: “historical museum”. |
| Huyen: bảo tàng quân đội. |
| Becky: “military museum”. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about the weather. |
| Huyen: Hôm nay trời nắng. |
| Becky: “It’s sunny today.” The sentence starts with the time phrase... |
| Huyen: ...hôm nay… |
| Becky: ...meaning “today”, followed by… |
| Huyen: ...trời nắng… |
| Becky: ...which means “It’s sunny.” If you want to describe other weather’s condition, simply replace... |
| Huyen: ...“trời nắng”... |
| Becky: ...with the following phrases: |
| Huyen: trời mưa |
| Becky: “it’s rainy” or “it rains” |
| ”Huyen: trời âm u |
| Becky: “It’s cloudy” or “it’s gloomy” |
| Huyen: Trời đẹp or đẹp trời |
| Becky: “It’s fine” or “It’s nice”. The time phrase will also be changed accordingly, depending on the time you want to mention. |
| Huyen: So the whole sentence structure will be: Adverb of time, the time phrase, trời, and then the adjective. |
| Becky: Let’s hear some more examples. |
| Huyen: Hôm qua trời âm u. |
| Becky: “Yesterday it was cloudy”. |
| Huyen: Hôm nay trời đẹp or Hôm nay đẹp trời. |
| Becky: “Today it’s fine.” When you want to ask about the weather, start with the time phrase, followed by... |
| Huyen: ...thời tiết… |
| Becky: ...meaning “the weather”, and finally add… |
| Huyen: ...thế nào… |
| Becky: ...meaning “how”. The whole question is... |
| Huyen: Hôm nay thời tiết thế nào? |
| Becky: “What’s the weather like today?” Listeners, can you now answer this question? |
| Huyen: Hôm nay thời tiết thế nào? |
| Becky: It’s so simple, right? |
| Huyen: If you want to review what we have learned, please read the lesson notes. |
Outro |
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| Becky: That’s it for this lesson. Remember you can leave us a question or a comment anytime. Thanks for listening, and see you again next time. |
| Huyen: Tạm biệt! |
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